As Europe's big guns got their World Cup qualification campaigns under way on Friday, it seemed easy to forget that the South American group had been running for almost a year. And one team who had been in disappointing form was Colombia, who had managed just one competitive victory since their narrow win over Argentina 11 months ago.

That was until Friday, when they entertained Uruguay, the reigning South American champions, and convincingly beat them 4-0 to get their campaign back on track.

One name stood out as Oscar Tabarez's men were convincingly beaten: that of Teofilo Gutierrez, who scored two goals shortly after half-time in Barranquilla, effectively putting the game beyond Uruguay after Radamel Falcao's opener.

Congratulations to Gutierrez, Goal.com's 173rd World Player of the Week winner!

Honourable Mention

Stanislav Manolev - Bulgaria

The PSV full-back was instrumental as Bulgaria outplayed Italy and nearly took away a deserved three points. His marauding runs down the right caused the Azzurri all sorts of problems, and he even snatched the first goal of the game with a shot from distance, and had a hand in creating Georgi Milanov's equaliser.

Mesut Ozil - Germany

As Joachim Low's men started to struggle in their opening World Cup qualifier against Faroe Islands on Friday, the Real Madrid playmaker took control, scoring a brilliant double, as if to show his club side that the signing of Luka Modric was an unnecessary one.

Abou Diaby - FranceThe injury-ravaged Arsenal midfielder continued his recent renaissance at club level with a commanding performance for his country, scoring the only goal as Didier Deschamps masterminded his first-ever win in charge of his country against Finland in Helsinki.

Christian Atsu - Ghana

The 20-year-old was representing his country on home soil for the first time and continued his fine start to his international career, tapping home a close-range effort after just 10 minutes, and stealing the show as the Black Stars took a big step on the road to January's African Cup of Nations.

Steinmetz Alves - Brazil

The Selecao put their Olympic football disappointment behind them on Saturday to beat France in the Paralympic five-a-side final, with captain Ricardo Steinmetz Alves leading his nation to victory.

On Sunday, we encouraged our readers to nominate their choices for the best player of the week. Here are some of the comments we received:

JASONH agreed with our decision to name Teo Gutierrez as Goal.com World Player of the Week, and is touting the Atletico Junior man with a move to the Premier League.

"Teo Gutierrez. Liverpool should buy him."

Mustafa Kahkashan thought that Diaby or his Arsenal team-mate Santi Cazorla were worthy of recognition.

"Santi Cazorla or Abou Diaby. Messi has many fans, but that doesn't mean he should win it."

Nurul Faizah will find our eventual selection quite baffling ...

"Of course it's Mesut Ozil."

Prince Danish, meanwhile, thinks that Radamel Falcao should have claimed back-to-back awards for his part in Colombia's win.

"I'm not a Falcao fan but he definitely deserves it! Two hat-tricks against Athletic Bilbao and Chelsea and then a goal for Colombia!"

Joseph Miffy was impressed by Pablo Osvaldo, who scored twice as Italy avoided embarrassment against Bulgaria.

"Osvaldo: Saved Italy from losing against Bulgaria by scoring two goals."

Each week our worldwide team of editors will put forward a selected candidate, as chosen by Goal.com International, who deserves recognition for achieving something special that matchday.

You can also help us choose a worthy recipient of the weekly accolade by leaving your nominations and comments here. Your suggestions will be taken into consideration.

It won't necessarily be the best player in the world - at least not usually - but whoever we crown will have accomplished something amazing. It might be for a particularly awesome performance or for something praiseworthy off the pitch - either way, the person in question deserves special attention...